Associated Figures

Definition

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program's Crime Index is composed
of selected offenses used to gauge fluctuations in the volume and rate of
crime reported to law enforcement. The UCR Crime Index was first recommended
to the FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in the report Uniform Crime Reporting: Report
of the Consultant Committee (September 1958). This recommendation
was accepted by the FBI and the term Crime Index first appeared in Crime
in the United States, 1960.

The offenses selected to make up the Crime Index were the Part I crimes—the
violent crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery,
and aggravated assault and the property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft,
and motor vehicle theft. These crimes were considered by experts of the
time to be the most serious and the most commonly reported crimes occurring
in the Nation. The UCR Program created the Modified Crime Index to include
arson, which was added to the Program in 1979 by congressional mandate.
The definition of these offenses can be found in Appendix II of this report.

Trend

Year

Number of offenses

Rate per 100,000
inhabitants

2001

11,876,669

4,162.6

2002

11,877,218

4,118.8

Percent change

*

-1.1

* Less than one-tenth of 1 percent.

National Volume, Trends, and Rates

Nationally, the 2002 Crime Index, with an estimated 11,877,218 offenses,
rose by less than one-tenth of a percent when compared to the 2001 Index.
Five- and 10-year trend data showed that in 2002 the Crime Index was 4.9
percent lower than the estimate from 1998 and 16.0 percent below the 1993
estimate. The Crime Index for 2002 was comprised of 12.0 percent violent
crime and 88.0 percent property crime. The offense of larceny-theft accounted
for the greatest part of the Crime Index, 59.4 percent. Murder, the least
often committed crime in the Index, contributed slightly more than one-tenth
of a percent to the total.

The Crime Index rate, which reflects the number of Index offenses per 100,000
inhabitants, for the Nation was 4,118.8. Two-, 5-, and 10-year trend data
indicated that in 2002 this rate represented a 1.1 percent decrease over
the 2001 Crime Index rate, a 10.9 percent drop from the rate in 1998, and
a 24.9 percent decline from the estimated rate for 1993. (See Table 1.)

Community Types

The UCR Program defines three community types: Metropolitan Statistical
Areas (MSAs), cities outside the MSAs, and rural counties which are discussed
in detail in Appendix III of this report. MSAs are comprised of a central
city of at least 50,000 people, the county in which the city is located,
and any other adjacent counties with solid economic or social links to the
central city and county. In 2002, 80 percent of the U.S. population lived
within an MSA. MSAs as a community type posted an estimated Crime Index
rate of 4,409.1 offenses per 100,000 people. Cities outside the MSAs, accounting
for 8 percent of the Nation's inhabitants, experienced a Crime Index
rate of 4,524.0. Rural counties, with 12 percent of the country's population,
had an estimated Crime Index rate of 1,908.7 per 100,000 inhabitants. (See
Table 2.)

Regional Offense Trends and Rates

The UCR Program divides the Nation into four regional areas: the Northeast,
the South, the Midwest, and the West. (A map depicting the regions and divisions
of the United States is presented in Appendix III.) The characteristics
of the 2002 Crime Index in the regions of the Nation were as follows:

The Northeast

The Northeastern Region, which comprised 18.8 percent of the Nation's
population, accounted for an estimated 13.2 percent of the Crime Index offenses
committed. This reflected a 3.2 percent decrease in offenses compared to
the 2001 estimate. This region experienced an estimated rate of 2,889.0
Crime Index offenses per 100,000 in population. In 2002, this was the lowest
rate of occurrence among the four regions. (See Tables 3 and 4.)

The Midwest

The region of the Midwest, home to 22.6 percent of the U.S. population,
had an estimated 21.3 percent of the Crime Index offenses committed, a 1.9
percent decrease from 2001. The Midwest had an estimated Crime Index rate
of 3,883.1 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. (See Tables 3 and 4.)

The South

The South, with 35.8 percent of the country's inhabitants, was the
region with the most population. Accordingly, it also had the highest volume
of Crime Index offenses, an estimated 41.1 percent. This was a 0.1 percent
rise in offenses compared to the 2001. The rate of Crime Index offenses
per 100,000 individuals in the Southern region was 4,721.9, the highest
estimated rate among the regions. (See Tables 3 and 4.)

The West

The West, with 22.8 percent of the population of the United States in 2002,
registered an estimated 24.4 percent of Crime Index offenses. A two-year
trend (2001-2002) showed a 3.3 percent increase that was the largest increase
among of the four regions. An examination of the Crime Index rate showed
4,418.8 offenses per 100,000 people. (See Tables 3 and 4.)

Population Groups: Trends and Rates

Population groups in the UCR Program are comprised of city designations,
aggregated by population, plus suburban and rural counties. Nationally,
cities as a whole experienced a 0.5 percent decrease in offenses making
up the Crime Index. A review of the Crime Index within population groups
in 2002 revealed that cities with populations 250,000 to 499,999 had the
largest decrease at 1.8 percent. Slight increases in the Crime Index occurred
in both cities with a population range of 100,000 to 249,999 (0.8 percent)
and cities with 50,000 to 99,999 inhabitants (0.6 percent). Both suburban
and rural counties counted increases in the Crime Index of 1.0 percent and
0.5 percent, respectively. (See Table 12.)

Collectively, U.S. cities reported a Crime Index rate of 5,047.2 offenses
per 100,000 persons. The Nation's largest cities, those with populations
of 250,000 and over, had the highest rate, 6,243.3 per 100,000. Among city
agencies, smaller cities—those with a population of 10,000 to 24,999—reported
the lowest Crime Index rate of 3,837.2 per 100,000 persons. Suburban counties
had a rate of 3,047.4 Crime Index offenses per 100,000 individuals and rural
counties, a rate of 2,054.8. (See Table 16.)

Clearances

An offense is cleared by UCR standards when an arrest is made and charges
have been brought against the arrestee. A clearance by exceptional means
can also be made when the offender has been identified and located and there
is enough evidence to support an arrest, but conditions beyond the control
of law enforcement preclude arresting, charging, and prosecuting the offender.
Additionally, if an offender under the age of 18 is cited to appear before
juvenile authorities, the UCR Program accepts that incident as cleared by
arrest, even though a physical arrest may not have occurred. (More information
about clearances can be obtained in Section III of this report.)

In the United States in 2002, 20.0 percent of all Crime Index offenses
were cleared by arrest or exceptional means. Within those offenses, 46.8
percent of violent crime and 16.5 percent of property crime were cleared.
Murder, the most serious offense in the Index, had the largest percentage
of offenses cleared (64.0 percent), and burglary had the smallest percentage
of cleared offenses (13.0 percent). (See Table 25.)

Clearances and Juveniles

Of all the Crime Index offenses cleared in 2002, 18.0 percent involved
only persons under 18 years of age. (According to UCR guidelines, any clearance
that involves both adults and juveniles is listed as an adult clearance.)
A study of clearances among juveniles revealed that persons under age 18
accounted for 11.9 percent of violent crime clearances and 20.3 percent
of property crime clearances. In 2002, as in previous years, the single
offense that demonstrated the largest percentage of clearances involving
juveniles was the Modified Crime Index offense of arson at 43.0 percent,
followed by the Crime Index offense of larceny-theft at 21.2 percent. (See
Table 28.)

Arrests

Total Arrests

The Nation's law enforcement made an estimated 2,234,464 arrests for
Crime Index offenses, including arrests for arson, in 2002. This represented
an estimated 16.3 percent of the total number of arrests made. (See Table
29.) The arrest rate for Crime Index offenses was 788.4 offenses per 100,000
inhabitants. This figure reflected a violent crime arrest rate of 217.9
and a property crime arrest rate (including arson) of 570.5 arrests per
100,000 persons. (See Table 30.)

The Nation's four regions experienced the following arrest rates for
Crime Index offenses per 100,000 persons: the West recorded an arrest rate
of 871.9; the South posted a rate of 790.0; the Midwest reported a rate
of 777.2; and the Northeast had a rate of 658.5 arrests per 100,000 population.
(See Table 30.)

A review of arrests within UCR population groups revealed that the Nation's
largest cities, those with more than 250,000 inhabitants, recorded the highest
arrest rate for Crime Index offenses at 1,069.9 per 100,000 persons. Smaller
cities, those with a population range of 10,000 to 24,999, reported the
lowest Crime Index arrest rate among city agencies at 791.6 per 100,000
inhabitants. Suburban counties had an arrest rate of 528.7, and rural counties
had a rate of 413.2 Crime Index arrests per 100,000 individuals. (See Table
31.)

By gender, arrests of females for Crime Index offenses increased in 2002
by 0.8 percent when compared to figures from the previous year. At the same
time, arrests of males declined 0.1 percent. Violent crime arrests within
the Crime Index demonstrated a 0.8 percent decline in arrests for both males
and females. Property crime, however, experienced a 1.2 percent increase
in the arrests of females and a 0.3 percent rise in the arrests of males.
(See Table 37.)

A review of 2002 data by age of arrestees revealed that, although arrests
of adults for Crime Index offenses in 2002 rose 1.5 percent over the previous
year's arrests, arrests of juveniles fell 3.5 percent. (See Table 36.)

By race, 65.5 percent of arrestees were white, 31.9 percent were black,
and 2.5 percent were other races (Asian or Pacific Islander and American
Indian or Alaskan Native). An examination of violent crime arrest data showed
that 59.7 percent of arrests were of white individuals, 38.0 percent were
of black persons, and 2.3 percent were individuals of other races. Property
crime arrests were distributed as follows: 67.7 percent were white arrestees,
29.6 were black, and the remaining 2.7 percent were other races. (See Table
43.)